Here we are, another October all over again. Can you believe it? It's been a busy couple of seasons around here--some TV and video projects, contributing for The Splendid Table (hi, dream job), and developing book #4. Oh, and that not-so-small detail of mothering a a third-grader (!) and a finally potty-trained (!!!) 3 1/2-year-old whose personality is basically Male Sybil on Steroids. There's a lot to take in. I'm sure a lot of you feel me. In fact, can we all just go somewhere? Like a retreat in Big Sur where we all have our own private, sparkling clean bedrooms and bathrooms and we just breathe deep all day, and then convene in the evening over a case of wine and our favorite new cookbooks? Excellent. I'm bringing that one, up top, and seeing if the author wants to come with us.

Whether it was made from scratch, a boxed Entemann's, or something more stepped-up, like say a coffee cake from the local bakery, I think most of us knew to approach a cake on the countertop with caution. Because clearly it was something special, right? And like getting one of those flouride treatments as a kid and being told you couldn't eat for 30 minutes, nothing makes you want to eat something more than being told you can't. Counter cakes are magical that way. The pull of a counter cake on a kid is vortex-like.